NAGPUR, June 18: Chief minister Manohar Joshi today announced that he would reshuffle the portfolios of some of his Cabinet Ministers soon.

Talking to mediapersons here immediately after the Cabinet meeting, he also made it clear that there would not be any Cabinet expansion in the immediate future. However, he said none of the existing Ministers would be dropped during the ensuing reshuffle.

The Chief Minister denied reports that Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray, who summoned Ministers belonging to his party recently in Mumbai for a review of their performance over the last two-and-a-half years, had expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of Minister for Cultural Affairs Pramod Navalkar, Law and Judiciary Minister Leeladhar Dake and Minister for Forests Ganesh Naik.

``The reports are totally baseless,'' he said, dismissing Press reports which mentioned that Navalkar, Dake and Naik were the butt of the Sena chief's displeasure.

He denied that there was any kind of resentment in the Sena hierarchy against inclusion of outsiders in the Ministry.

Joshi dismissed reports that Minister for Trade and Commerce Sureshdada Jain was unhappy with his portfolio. In an interview to a Mumbai-based daily, Jain had complained that he felt jobless.

``I have no power and no funds,'' he said in the interview and asked Thackeray and Joshi to give him the Industries portfolio as an additional charge, or shift him to some other Department.

The Chief Minister ruled out any re-negotiation on the agreement with Ispat Industries Limited for proposed coal mines and power projects. The issue was raised by senior BJP leader and Lok Sabha member from Nagpur, Banwarilal Purohit, recently. He alleged that the Maharashtra Government was betraying national interests by allotting the coal mines to the multi-national company.He also pointed out that the Government had ignored the letter of the Defence Ministry, restraining it from going ahead with an agreement.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.